I found this morning here on www.cnn.com
Xbox woes: Some customers angry
Analyst: Weak service could mean bad rap for new console
January 5, 2002 Posted: 12:19 PM EST (1719 GMT)
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SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- Hundreds of people who bought Microsoft's hot new Xbox game console over the holidays received defective systems, and some say they waited for weeks before the devices were fixed.
Analysts said the number of flawed consoles is probably too small to spell serious production troubles, but said long repair times wouldn't help the software giant in its first major foray into hardware.
John Kreis, 31, of Chicago bought an Xbox the day it came out. He said the $300 system stopped working almost immediately, but it took a month of aggravation with Xbox customer service before he got a replacement.
"The whole thing that was so frustrating (was) just the fact that still to this day I'm waiting for a call-back just to explain to me what happened," he said.
The Associated Press spoke with about a dozen Xbox users who said the console never worked or soon froze up. Most called the customer service response poor.
"I'm taking my Christmas decorations down and (my son) hasn't gotten to play with his Christmas toys yet," said Debbie Mason of Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
Analyst Rob Enderle of Giga Information Systems warned that customer service is more important than how many units actually break.
"If 200 people have a really bad experience and they're vocal, then the impression is the product's bad," he said.
Playing for big bucks
The stakes are high for Microsoft, which shipped about 1.5 million Xboxes over the holidays. With the highly regarded Xbox, the company is battling Nintendo and Sony in a hyper-competitive game console market.
Microsoft delayed its United States launch date by a week to November 15 amid rumors of problems at its Mexican production plant. It also pushed back its Japan launch date, but has denied any major problems.
Microsoft sales and marketing director John O'Rourke said fewer than 1 percent of the consoles have proven faulty. Analysts say that's in line with the industry standard, and competitor Nintendo reported a comparable rate for its new GameCube.
Microsoft also has seen no pattern of specific problems, O'Rourke said.
Plenty of people who bought defective Xboxes got decent customer service. Marc Patri, 49, for example, said in an e-mail that his Xbox was repaired and returned within five days.
Microsoft uses outside companies, including Harte-Hanks of San Antonio, Texas, and Sykes Enterprises in Tampa, Florida, to handle Xbox customer service. Xbox repairs are handled by Solectron of Milpitas, California.
A spokesman for Harte-Hanks declined to comment. The other companies did not respond to calls seeking comment.
Kreis said it took nearly two weeks before he received an empty box to send his faulty Xbox back for repair. At one point, customer service couldn't find his records. One representative told him he would get a new unit rather than have his old one repaired, but another agent told him they never send new units out.
Still later, someone called him and asked him how he was enjoying his new Xbox -- which he'd never received.
Finally, on December 10, the repaired Xbox came back.
"I'll be loyal for a while," Kreis said. "But I'm hoping I never have to call support again, that's for sure."
